A stubborn brush fire prompted officials in Brevard County to close Interstate 95 and state Road 528 early Wednesday morning.
Twelve crashed vehicles were abandoned in the middle of S.R. 528 because rescuers felt the smoke was too thick for the victims and rescuers to remain at the scene, WESH 2 News reported.
A caravan of fire engines cleared 24 people from several crash scenes and evacuated them to a Wal-Mart on state Road 524.
S.R. 528 was closed between I-95 and S.R. 520 at about 2:30 a.m. due to smoke from a brush fire smoldering in northern Brevard County since last week. As troopers were preparing to close down the highway, they received reports of three crashes involving 12 cars and a total of 18 passengers.
Two people suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital. The rest remained at the scene until they were evacuated from the area.
Troopers said S.R. 528 will not reopen anytime soon. I-95 is also closed between state Road 50 and Wickham Road.
"Stay away from I-95 and eastbound 528. S.R. 520 is open. We have traffic diverted from eastbound 528 to 520, so they can still get into Brevard that way," a trooper said.
Firefighters had predicted this exact situation, with heavy smoke drifting to the northwest. A combination of a shift in the winds and the morning weather conditions have led to that, and they've left this thick blanket of smoke hanging over the major roadways.
In addition to the problems on the highways, smoke is also delaying some school buses, Brevard County Schools representative Sara Stern said. Buses going to Space Coast Junior-Senior High School and Enterprise Elementary are running between 45 minutes and one hour late.
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